I went camping this past weekend for the first time since I moved to Canada 23 years ago.
Mind you, although we had a tent it was not like the camping I did when I was younger.
Back then we had to hike for several miles with large backpacks on our backs with nothing to make the ground softer under the sleeping bag, and the most common thing we brought to eat were cans of baked beans.
No luxuries, no amenities, no one delivering wood to the campsite and our food stayed cool by placing it in a bag, securing the bag to a rock and dangling it in a nearby stream.
Two good things though were the absence of mosquitos and exploding bean cans that were left on the fire too long.
Now people seem to take everything including the kitchen sink with them when camping.
Tents seem to be much bigger than years ago, air mattresses are so big the princess would never have noticed the pea underneath.
There are also barbecues, tarps, several coolers, chairs of all varieties and all the toys you can muster. But to get all the required equipment - including 50 gallons of bug spray to the site you require something large and voluminous. And if you are one of those who likes to camp in luxury with a tent trailer, camper or fifth wheel then the best option is obviously a truck.
But you don't want to pull up to the campsite with all this gear and a truck that is wheezing and gasping under the weight of the freight.
You need something with a bit of brawn, a bit of attitude, so other campers can't get their weekend of camping started until you arrive with your truck and cargo. There needs to be a sense of occasion, a sense of "screw you wilderness, me and my truck are here with our bug spray and throwing axe and we are going to survive, damn you."
So the perfect truck, which I drove this week, might just be the new Dodge Ram Sport with its nice little Hemi V8. Two rows of seats provide enough space for you, the spouse and the kids, with covered storage-compartments under the rear seats for several items.
If you have no kids you can lift up the back seats and flip out the lids of the storage compartments, which make for a level surface on which to store more equipment or even a bulldog or two. This is also perfect for hauling a patient to the hospital suffering from anaphylactic shock after being bitten by the wrong sort of bug.
Dodge has been working on the rear suspension of the Ram, which has made for less hop over uneven surfaces and a smoother ride overall. This means there is less chance of the dog bouncing up and landing on your lap while driving over potholes in our fair city, and less chance of the refreshments spraying all over you face when you open a cool one after reaching the camp site.
With a payload of 1,860 lbs and a max towing capacity of 10,450 lbs there should be no problem carrying and towing your comfort and sleeping equipment to the campsite.
The Ram was also equipped with a seven- and four-pin trailer wiring harness, which has been nicely integrated into the rear bumper.
The tailgate also has been sloped back making it easier to grab the handle. The gate is lockable and although it is large, it is nowhere near as heavy as I had imagined. I braced myself for huge weight, but was surprised at how easy it was to drop and lift. Either the gate is lighter or I have gotten much stronger over the last few weeks.
Although Hemis are known for their power and brute strength, they are also known for being a bit loud and brash, not that there is anything wrong with that when done in the right measure.
Now, although this Hemi, with 390 horsepower and 407 foot-pounds of torque, is big and brash and sounds like Thor throwing his hammer about when you punch it, it is phenomenally quiet when under normal driving conditions. It is the quietest I have heard a Hemi, and it may even be possible to sneak up on some of those damn mosquitos and whack them before they even consider gorging
themselves on my blood for their offspring.
The Ram comes standard with trailer sway control, electronic stability control and hill start assist. Other goodies include power seat, Bluetooth with voice-recognition, satellite radio (great for camping tunes), dual glove box, six-speed manumatic gearbox, four-wheel-drive and 115-volt outlet.
The bed of the truck was not only large enough to have hauled all our equipment, but would have been more comfortable than the leaky air mattress I had to sleep on on my camping weekend and less noisy than some of the snorers nearby.
Vehicle:
Dodge Ram half ton
Vehicle type:
4-door truck
Transmission:
6-speed manumatic
Engine:
5.7-litre V8
Horseppower:
390 @ 5,600
Torque:
407 @ 4,000
Price as tested:
$34,900
Mileage:
16.7 l/100km 17 mpg city
11.4 l/100km 25 mpg hwy
